Little boy was in a store and he approached a sales clerk to, to let him know that he was shopping for a birthday gift for his mother and wanted to know if the store carried any cookie jars. And so the sales clerk pointed him to the display of cookie jars to which he just meticulously went through opening and closing every single lid of every single cookie jar. And when he got to the last one, he had this look of dismay when he turned to the salesman and just said, are there any lids that don't make any noise when you open them? You see a lot of times we try to do things for other people, but in reality, we have a selfish motive, right? And that's what we want to talk about today is really talks about really the heart. Our, our, this morning's message is entitled a Tale of Two Hearts because we're gonna take a look at what matters most. And what we believe God says matters is at the core, right? Is that your motivation matters, why you do things matter, uh you know, in leadership and in life, even even outside of scripture. When, when they study business, when they study leadership principles, what they find, what they find is that the best leaders are the humble leaders, Patrick Lion. In a recent work on motivation, talks about how there's a difference between those who are reward focused leadership versus responsibility focused leadership. The idea of instead of what am I gonna get out of it in reward centered leadership, responsibility centered leadership is, what is the team gonna get out of it? Jim Collins in his um in some of his leadership, great works good to great built to last. He talks about different levels of leadership and the highest level of leadership is a level five leader, which is the combination of professional will and personal humility. The the best leaders in organizations, the best teachers, the best coaches are the ones who have this drive to make a difference. But then also the hum humility to know that it's not about them, it's about the team, it's about others, right? And that comes down to our motivation. God really cares about your motivation and we're gonna see this in our story picking up here in acts chapter four. For, for those that have been with us, we've been walking through the story of the book of Acts. So right after the Gospels, Matthew Mark, Luke John, you have acts written by Luke who also wrote the Gospel of Luke and he wrote those two together kind of act one Act two to this gentleman named Theophilus. And so in Luke, he wrote about all that Jesus had done and in Acts, Luke writes about all that Jesus continues to do and it just kind of ends. It does. There's not like a conclusion to the book. The story just kind of fades off almost like those movies that says to be continued. And I think that's because Acts continues today and God is still alive and still moving today. And so if you've been with us in acts chapter one, we saw the promise of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, you'll receive the power of the Holy Spirit to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samira to the ends of the earth. So the Holy Spirit is promised in acts one, the Holy Spirit comes in acts two and the church begins, thousands of people get saved. And then in acts chapter three, Peter and John heal somebody in the name of Jesus. We talked about the power of the name. And so then he healed someone. But then the religious leaders and the political leaders didn't like that. They felt threatened. So they arrested Peter and John, but they didn't, they couldn't really do anything at that time with them because they just helped somebody, they just healed somebody. And so they end up letting him go. And so now we're gonna pick up our story here in acts chapter four and what we're gonna see is that in the beginning, Satan tried to tear down the church from the outside. And in today's story, what we're gonna see is Satan tries to tear apart the church from the inside. And so we get this summary passage at the end of chapter four that describes the feel, the flavor, the culture of the early church. Here in acts chapter four, verse 32 to 35 says now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul and no one said that any things that belonged to them to him was his own, but that they had everything in common and with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and with great grace. I love that great power and great grace uh was upon them all because with great power comes great responsibility, right? For Spiderman fans out there. Anyway, verse 34 there was not a needy person among them for as many as were owners of lands and houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles feet and this was distributed to each as any had in need. Now, this early description of the church is pretty powerful, but I do wanna acknowledge a few things. Uh First, there was some very serious needs because the early church was primarily Jewish. And again, the church didn't start with a political power, it didn't start with a building. It didn't start with a lot of money. And in fact, the early Jewish believers were probably tied to ministry within Jerusalem and the temples and so forth. Now they are rejected the Pharisees and sad you see teaching. So there's a good probability that many of them lost their jobs or lost their income or lost their belongings to those religious leaders because they were now rejecting them. And so the church responded by meeting the needs of the people around them. And so they reached out to the least last and lost in chapter one, we saw that it was a mixture of people, people of different political backgrounds, people of different um ethnicity, people of different really class backgrounds too. There were those that were zealous, there were those who were tax collector, there was uneducated fishermen there. Uh Luke was a doctor and so there's different group of people that all came together. And so these first couple verses tell us that the early church was defined by three things. It was defined because it was united. The early church was then also evangelistic and then the early church was generous. And so it was united together all these people from all these different backgrounds united around the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. And so they were sharing that with other people. They were evangelistic because they received this good news. They received this cure to the meaning and of life to go from death to life itself. And when you receive something great, you cannot help but share that with others. And so thousands are getting saved. And then when all these people are getting saved, there's all these needs that are present in the community. And so not only are they meeting spiritual needs, but they're also meeting physical needs. And so they were very generous but within their generosity, I wanna note a couple things. Number one, it wasn't like every single person sold their house and then gave it to the apostles. We know that because then they then they wouldn't have a house to meet in at that point. So it's not that everybody sold everything, but some people sold everything, right. It's the people that God prompted in their heart to sell, they sold and they gave, they sold and they gave and they gave and they shared. So people share different resources at different amounts and different gifts. But the heart was the same. It was one heart and one soul. And when I read that, I think of the heart and soul cafe here in the community, you know, but also my mind tends to go towards cafe and food in general. But idea of one heart, one soul unified together, reaching the community with the gospel, meeting spiritual needs, meeting physical needs and just making a tangible difference and ultimately being for the community. Now, when you read this. If you're just being honest, you don't want to say it because it seems weird to say it out loud. But it almost seems a little bit like communist. Hm. It does. Right. Like taking everything from the wealthy and share it to everybody else. Right. But there's a big, big, big difference that we need to note between community and communism. Ok. Community, right. Social initiatives and socialism. There's a big difference here and that's important for us to acknowledge today in our culture. Why? Because community is when somebody says voluntarily, what is mine is yours, right? Volunteer basis, choosing to say what is mine is yours. I give what I have to meet your need. That's community, that's the church. What communism says is what's yours is mine. You see the difference, one is forced, one is really not about meeting the needs of others. One is actually about control, right? And it's, and someone gets to decide. And so I'm gonna make everything even. But really what that means is I wanna control everything. Well, what the church actually says is we will voluntarily give what is ours to meet the needs of what is yours? Because we have received something greater with great power and great grace, the power of the Holy Spirit and the message of Jesus. You see when you have received the life transformation grace that comes from Jesus Christ. The natural response is gratitude and generosity. Because when you are grateful for what you have received. Then you are freely driven to give what you have to meet the needs of the people around you. And this was the early mark of the church and this is very much countercultural to the leaders of that day. In fact, the reason people hated tax collectors was because they were their own Jewish people working on behalf of the Roman government to take what was theirs and give it to the government. And so there's this this challenge thing of like where it was forced where the church comes in and says, no, we need to freely give what we have to meet the needs of the people around us, which really leads to this concept here that I think it's important for us to distinguish today is that we are called as a church to love people and to use things not the other way around. We are called to love people and to use things not the other way around. See our culture today tells us to ultimately get what you need, right? Get you need the the best car, the biggest house, the latest phone, you have to wear a certain brand of clothing, you have to look a certain way you have and and teens do this too, right? Like they say like I wanna be unique just like my friends, right? Like it's like this cluster identity, right? Like I wanna be individualized, but exactly like my friends. Right. But we do this as adults too, don't we? Right. Like the dad's kinda all dress alike. The moms all kinda dress alike, like whatever the form of water bottle or cup that we have at one time you're all gonna have, right? Like we all go through phases and go through that. And so it's, it's natural to say like we need this, we need this, we need this. But then we also live in a culture that then says, well to get where you need to go, it's ok to use people to get to the position that you want. That's called ambition. No, that's called pride and selfishness. And so what scripture tells us is to love people to use things, things in and of themselves. Like money, for example, is a moral mean. It's not moral or immoral. Like a brick can be used to build a house, a brick can also be used to break a window. It's what you choose to do with it. That's why scripture says it's not that money is evil in and of itself. It's not that success is evil in and of itself. It says that the love of money is evil. Why? Because God doesn't actually need money out of your wallet. He created the universe. I think he's doing just fine. But rather than the money out of your wallet, he wants the idol out of your heart. And because money makes a horrible God because money, either you have it and you need more or you don't have it and you're jealous. And so you, you're wrong on both cases. And so when you make it your God and you make it your goal and not a resource, you get put into a different position where now if I need to get this thing, I'm gonna use this person to get what I want where the church comes in and says, no love, people use things, everything that you've been given, you've been called to be a steward of as a resource, to worship God and to bless others to make a difference. And now is the marker of the early church. Paul actually writes this in Second Corinthians chapter nine verse six and seven says, the point is this that whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, but whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he is decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. Again, your motivation matters, right? Your motivation matters. Like if you've never given a single dime to this church, we want you to know that God loves you and you're welcome here because we want to be a blessing to this community. But what I wanna tell you is that I don't want something from you, but I want something for you that when we give, when we inhabit the spirit, the heart of generosity of giving our time, talents and treasures to the people in the community around us. What happens is we become, become more like God because we share his heart and his heart becomes our heart. And when you have a community of people who are defined by unity, by love, by sacrifice, by service and generosity, that's something I want to be a part of. Right? But the church doesn't start stop there. It describes the early church and then it's gonna give us two very different and very distinct examples. We're gonna have Barnabas and then we're gonna have Ananias and Saphira and you're gonna see these side by side. Now in, in our Bibles, it'll be the end of chapter four and the beginning of chapter five. But we have to remember that when it was originally written, there were no chapter numbers or verse numbers behind it, those were added in later so that we could have reference that this was really one story that was written. And so Luke decided to put this story in on purpose and for a purpose. And what we're gonna see are two very different hearts to show the early church that your motivation matters. Heart. Number one, Barnabas, he gets two verses here. Chapter four verse 36 and 37 says, thus, Joseph who is also called by the Apostles. Barnabas, which means son of encouragement. A Levite, a native of Cyprus who sold the field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles feet. What I love about this passage is that Barnabas could be any of us. Barnabas could be of any really could be any of us. I say that because you read the adventures of Peter or the boldness of Paul or you know, the, the Apostle whom Jesus loved you, John and you could see them like, oh, I can't be that guy, but Barnabas just comes onto the scene. He is an everyday ordinary person. Now he is a Levite. So in the, you know, lineage of the priesthood. So there's a question about how he got the land. But then even more so it was a precious resource. And so by being a Levi, he was giving up a lot to become a follower of Jesus and now it's giving up his land and in case there was any confusion about who this guy was, they're like Joseph, who we called Barnabas, the Levite who's from Cyprus, right? He gets super specific why? Because he's writing to a specific audience to show that it was a specific person. Uh This might surprise some of you, but I like to crack jokes and I don't really get embarrassed easily. And so if I can make one of my friends or loved ones, feel embarrassed in a public setting, I will typically do that. And so when Samantha and I were dating in college, she is very much behind the scenes, she loves to serve, she serves in kids ministry, does counseling, uh does all these things, she loves being just the one on one, the heartfelt conversations, right? Uh She is not an upfront person. And so what I used to do as the loving boyfriend would do in college um was I when we were in the big college cafeteria, I would wait till she was like putting her tray away. And then I would say, hey, Samantha. Samantha streams ma name. No, the blonde girl in the pink and the white striped shirt with now the turning red face with her head down and like everyone's looking at like I love you and then we go, oh, and she'd be like, oh my gosh, I hate my life. What is going on? And the fact that she stayed with me, I'm, I'm honestly shocked but, um, I would do that because I, if I say, hey Samantha, well, there could be a lot of Samantha's the blonde girl. No, the blonde girl on the white and the pink stripes who sounded like I got more specific. So everybody knew it was this person. All right. That's what the writer's doing here. Luke. He's saying, OK, hey, Joseph. Well, that's a common name. It could be. No, no, no, Joseph, who we call Barnabas. And like in our day when you say son of a, it's usually not followed by encouragement. But, um, it's maybe a little too far and worldly um anyway, but he was known as encouragement, the son of encouragement. Like that's his nickname is the Encourager, the Levite from Cyprus. This guy, this everyday ordinary guy sold what he had and gave it to the church and we know that his heart was genuine. Why? Because he would actually go on to be one of the most influential characters in the Bible. He's not seen as like one of the main characters like a Peter or Paul. But it's like the movie scene where the hero gets helped by somebody on the side that you don't save the world without that person on the sign. But and I know that to be true because this is the first time he's mentioned. But then he actually continues to get mentioned throughout the book of Acts, for example, acts chapter nine verse 27 he is the first person to really be the advocate for Paul to receive him within leadership of the early disciples and apostles. So Paul was persecuting the church was really enemy. Number one gets saved. And now it says, no, I'm actually now a preacher, I'm with you. You can understand where the early disciples like I don't think so, but it was Barnabas who saw his changed life that said, no, no, no guys. Uh He means it, this is genuine. And because of Barnabas's credibility and generosity and humility, they accept Paul and Paul goes on to be the most influential character outside of Jesus Christ. In the New Testament that doesn't happen without Barnabas. We don't have the New Testament without Barnabas. We don't have the church as we know it without Barnabas continues on in acts 11 verse 22. He actually is, um, ushers in this new ministry to this group called Gentiles. Gentiles is actually all of us. There's no Mission Grove, there's no American church as we know it without Barnabas. Because when they go, they don't just minister to Jewish believers in Jesus. But they actually open up the message to anybody who believes now to Gentiles, which simply means non Jewish and now opens it up to the world that's largely in part to the ministry and encouragement of Barnabas. He ministers to the poor meeting physical needs there in acts 11 verse 30 which makes sense because they already here in a acts four, he's giving away things to people in need. In acts 13 verse two, he's actually one of the early people in Paul's first missionary journeys. And then in acts 1537 he actually advocates when Paul gets in a fight with a guy named John Mark and says, no, I don't wanna work with him anymore. He actually goes with John Mark and actually encourages him to the point that eventually John Mark and Paul get reconciled because he actually references Mark at the end of his life. And Mark. John Mark, the guy who actually wrote the Gospel of Mark. And so I don't know if we have that gospel without Barnabas as well. So here is a gentleman who really has the heart of gold. He has this heart of humility, this heart of being spirit led. He is honest, he is open. And what I love is that Barnabas could be any one of us, part of us could be. Any one of us has a name, has a background, has a history gets transformed by the gospel filled with the Holy Spirit and then decides to make a practical difference for the early church. Now, we already said that there's no chapters and numbers in the original writing. So he says the church had everything in common. They were united, they were evangelistic, they were generous. Here's the picture of what we're talking about. Barnabas then acts chapter five, verse one. Ananias and Saphira. Here we go into chapter five verse one. But there was a man named Ananias with his wife, Saphira. Ananias's name means God is gracious and Saphira means beautiful. And this is gonna be a little ironic in what happens. And if you're not familiar with church stories, I'm just gonna tell you like, this is gonna take a real quick turn. OK? If you're used to all the messages of like God is love, God is happy, God is joy just to give you a hug. This is not the chapter for you just saying just giving you the heads up. But this is also true. We're gonna talk about why it's in here in just a moment. Here we go. But a man named Ananias with his wife, Sahira sold a piece of property and with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself, some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles feet. You can see where he would do this, right? Everyone is praising Barnabas. Oh Barnabas. Yay, Barnabas. Barnabas is great. God is so good. You could see somebody like I want that, you know, they haven't established leadership yet. So maybe if we give a lot, we're gonna look righteous and maybe they're gonna name us apostles and leaders. Ok? But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself? Part of the proceeds? That seems a little not like a thank you card, right? Like if someone gave a large gift to the church and said, why are you filled with Satan and lying? Right? That's not your typical giving response to the church. Um And while it remained unsold, did it not remain on your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? This is important because again, we shared with you not everybody sold their land and not everybody gave everything. So what he's saying here is like, look, this is still your choice, your control, your piece of land, your decision. Right? Verse five. And when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. Oh OK. Ananias lied. And then he died. That's not a great story. OK. And great fear came upon all who heard it. I think so. Right. Someone brings this great offering to the church and then just falls down death. Yeah, I'd, I'd call that great fear. You go from great power, great grace and now great fear. And the young man rose and wrapped him and carried him out and buried him. That's a tough volunteer gig, right? Like, hey, you wanna help in children's ministry if you wanna carry out the dead bodies when God strikes him down for lying, like I don't know if anyone's signing up anyway. Sorry, this is where my mind goes. Um That's right. His wife's gonna come in and save the day. It's gonna redeem their family name or not. Uh verse seven. After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, tell me whether you sold this land for so much. She said yes for so much. Now, why do you think it's so much and not a specific amount? I think it's in there because it's not about the amount, right? It's not about the amount, it's about the heart because as soon as you put the amount in there, people are gonna start debating and arguing. Well, if I give over X amount or give less than this amount, then I'm ok. It's not about the amount, it's about the heart, right? It's about truth goes in here and she says yes for so much. She was explaining it like she thought Peter was saying, did you really sell it for this amount and give us this much? She was like, well, yes, yes, I did bad choice of words for her. But Peter said, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord behold the feet of those who have buried your husband or at the door and they will now carry you out. Mm Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last when the young man came in and they found her dead and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband and great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard these things. Mm That is not your typical God is love message in church. And if we're being honest, it seems a little harsh when you read that right. God didn't strike the people who put Peter and John in jail dead. God didn't strike the people who nailed Jesus to the cross dead. But then someone who gave a gift to the church and lied about it, they die. Does that seem weird to anybody else? It seems weird to me but as I study it, I think, I think there's some reason behind it because it seems contrary, right? If you're starting a movement and thousands of people are being saved, like striking somebody dead in a church service is not your typical growth strategy. Is that fair to say? Right? So why did God do it? I think the reason God did this is because even more then God wanted the church to grow numerically. God wanted the church to grow holistically, meaning that God cares about the wholeness of a person and the heart of a person. And while Satan tried to tear down the church from the outside and now from the inside, what we see here is God addressing a need right out of the gate. This remember this is the early foundation of the church. We are days at most months away from the resurrection of Jesus. And so if somebody can come into the church and set the foundation of if you lie and cheat your way, you can get to a title and position and claim to be a religious authority in somebody else's life that is so incredibly dangerous. There are other parts in scripture where you actually see that God judges more harshly at the beginning of a movement. The miracles tend to be bigger, like like read through scripture. Anytime there's a new phase or new season or new chapter, there tends to be big miracles and then also big judgments why? Because how you start matters. OK? For example, Joshua goes into the promised land, they defeat Jericho with a miracle. Everyone's cheering. It's awesome. But then Joshua chapter seven, there's a guy named Aiken who doesn't follow what God called him to do keeps some stuff for himself lies about it. He dies and actually a bunch of people in Israel die and they lose a battle. There's another um example in Leviticus 10 when someone, when they just had the Tabernacle, um someone presented false fire, a false presence of God, false sacrifice get struck dead. Second Samuel chapter six, Isiah dies because he touches the ark of the covenant when he was told not to. So why would God strike down someone dead for simply lying? Well, actually at its core makes sense that if you're starting something, you need to start from a place of honesty and truth, don't you? There is how many of us have been hurt in a relationship or in the workplace or in a friendship because of a lie. Oliver Wendell Holmes says this way. He says sin has many tools but a lie is the handle that fits them all. So here is the start of the church and someone comes in and tries to set the foundation with a lie and God says no, yes, I am love but I am just and I am holy and I will not be mocked. See, actually in studying this, I think the reality is, is that Ananias and Saphira broke the third commandment, which says, do not take the Lord's name in vain. Now, typically we interpret that like at least I grew up thinking, oh, ok. So don't curse, don't, don't, don't say oh my God, I can say that in here because we're in church. OK? And I heard someone say this, did Jesus go oh my dad. I don't know if it was a bad but, but we take that right? Like don't curse, right? And, and I to an extent, I believe that's true, right? Like don't the word vain means empty without purpose, right? And so don't loosely throw the name of God around, especially when the early believers like barely uttered the name yahweh with like a breath yahweh. Like there was a reverence behind it. So don't just throw the name of God around. But I also think there is a deeper meaning here like I don't think just not cussing made it into the top 10 of the commitments. Like it seems a little shallow. I think at a deeper meaning what it means to not take the name of God in vain is do not do something in the name of God that actually is for selfish purposes. Don't play the God card when in reality you're being dishonest. That's why it's so heartbreaking and it makes national news when a religious leader has a major failing. Why? Because here is somebody claiming truth. And then living this way, I think all of us in this room at some point in our life has been impacted by somebody lying to us and lying is so detrimental to relationship because it breaks down trust. So it wasn't just that they gave some and they should have given more. It was that they gave for their gain, their position, their authority, they wanted to appear righteous when really they were selfish and that's not ok. And you gotta remember too, Luke didn't include everything about the church. So then what he did include about the early start of the church was for pur for a purpose or a reason. And I think he included this in here because as the church was exploding, we're going from no church to thousands of people to people being healed, to all this boldness. There's a pause and you go, hey, remember though that God cares about your motivation, God cares about your heart. God cares about your authentic authenticity and being real with him and it's not about being perfect because look at the people he used Barnabas wasn't perfect. Paul and Peter were not perfect. And so we see that over and over and over again that God can use anybody. But when God chooses to use someone, he's done so through the heart of humility and unity and, and selflessness that reflects the heart of Jesus, you see when you put Barnabas and Ananias side by side, you see a very stark difference. You see Barnabas was humble. Barnabas was humble. Ananias was very prideful. Look what we can get. Barnabas was spirit. Let Ananias was self. L it's not, he wasn't in God. What are you calling me to do? He was saying, what can I do for me? Then Barnabas was honest, wasn't perfect. He was honest and Ananias was deceptive. If you look at those two lists right now, which side do you want as a family member? Which side do you want as a friend? If you're an employer, hiring somebody who are you gonna hire? There is nobody in the right mind that's gonna hire the prideful self led, deceptive person. And I think this is why exactly Luke includes it in the story of acts and why God has such a strong judgment on them because he's telling the church this is not just the church is grow and do whatever the heck you want. God cares about the whole person and he sees the heart and it matters at its core. Ananias was a hypocrite. Hypocrite can be defined this way is really, it's somebody who wears a mask and plays a part. That's actually where the word came from as someone who would play a part in a play and wear a mask. So they were different than what they were on stage right now. All of us at some level battle a level of hypocrisy where we do something that we don't wanna do or we've all walked into a room and said something when in reality we were hurting or. So I recognize that I'm not saying someone's gonna fall over and die right now. Although we do have people ready to carry out the bodies. Um, no, just kidding. That's a tough volunteer position. All right. Anyway, so I'm not saying that's gonna happen, but this was put in here so that we can examine ourselves and be reminded that integrity matters. Jesus was most mad. Jesus was most mad at the religious leaders. Don't take my words. Take his own words from Matthew chapter 23 verse 23 to 28. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you tithe mint and dill and Cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith faithfulness. You ought to have done these. But without neglecting the other. So notice there too, it doesn't say like it's yes. Keep tithing. Yes, keep giving like yes, those are good things aren't bad things but don't put on a show so you can look better than you are. Like. What's your motive here? Are you genuinely caring for people serving? Helping? He continues on. He says you blind guides, straining out the nat and then swallowing a camel woe to you scribes and Pharisees or hypocrites for you. Clean the outside of the cup and the plate. But the inside is full of greed and self indulgent. Oh, you blind pharisee first, clean the inside of the cup and the plate that the outside may be clean woe to you. Scribes and Pharisees or hypocrites for you are like whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and uncleanliness. So you are outwardly appear righteous to others. But within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. I love that God is love. But we also have to understand that God is not your homeboy friend just ready to give everybody a hug. Our God is a king, our God is holy. Our God is a warrior and that God is the same God that defeats all of death and evil and sin as we know it. And at one point, we'll deal with all of evil. Cast it into the lake of fire for all eternity. Our God is love. Yes. But our God is also just and I'm glad He does. Why? Because that is why He sent his son Jesus. He sent his son Jesus to die on the cross as payment for what for our sins. So let me ask you is what you are living for worth what Jesus died for Jesus did not die on the cross, defeat death. Take on the whole weight of all the sins of the world and the wrath of God himself so that we can go on and pretend to be something we're not, but rather he did all of that so that when we receive his grace, his power, his spirit, we can then be a vessel through which he can use us in all of our Brokenness. That's why Paul can come and say I'm the worst. I am the worst. There's not a, a pretense of pretending to be something and I love that. You don't have to be perfect, but you can be honest, you can be humble, you can be open and you give what you have to. The Lord. All of us could be a Barnabas. And I get, I, I guess and we put a bet on everybody in this room. If you talk about who had the most influence in your life was probably somebody who is Barnabas like in your life, someone who saw you saw your shortcomings, saw your issues, looked at you and said, I believe in you. I believe in you. That's what Barnabas did. But he didn't just do that with people. He did that with his things. He just put his heart out there and Luke writes this for us to say, look, be a Barnabas not an Ananias. Mm God tells us this in first Samuel 16 verse seven says, for the Lord sees, not as man sees, man looks on outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart. So I just want to say here that your motivation matters, your motivation matters. I wanna ask you three closing questions here as the band comes up on stage because as we reflect on this here, I just know that yes, God is love. Yes, God cares about growth, but I love, love, love, the fact that He cares about the wholeness of the person and that your heart matters to God and your heart should matter to the people in your life. And so as we think about that these things are written for us as a warning, right? This is a warning for you and me. And so when we read this, when we take this and to self reflect and ask ourselves these questions, number one, is there an area of hypocrisy that we need to repent? Is there an area in your life in which you have pride or you're not being fully honest? Is there an area where like you know what I'm saying? One thing but I'm doing another, I need to come clean. The second question then is whatever that area is. Will you give that to God? Will you give that to Him? Listen, God's justice is gonna deal with you one way or another. He's either going to deal with those who reject him or he's gonna deal with you through what he did on to his son Jesus on the cross. I like that way. And so there is forgiveness available for all who put their faith in Him and give that to him. Be real, be honest. Be open, be humble, be a Barnabas and not only for yourself, then turn around and then share that with others. That's the third question here is how can you be a Barnabas this week? How can you encourage somebody? How can you share of your time, your talents, your treasure, of your resources to bless those in this community? Say it's not about me, it's about God and because he saved me because he gave to me, I wanna give and serve and love others. May our church be a church that is whole, that is open, imperfect, broken people trying to live out a love from a perfect God. Let's be those kind of people. Let's be a Barnabas this week. Will you pray with me? Dear God? Just thank you for everyone that's here. God, I know that in our hearts, all of us can have some level of hypocrisy, hypocrisy. But God, we give these prayers that we give these times together that made the life of Nnis be a warning to us. To not to just try to appear righteous, but to give our heart, to give our lives, to give our motivation to you, to humble ourselves, to in turn give of our time, our talent, our treasure and our resources to bless the people around us just as Barnabas did we go and do likewise. This week we love you God. Let's see your sons and we pray amen.